Carton construction



2, 1967 R. A. BLACK 3,317,111

CARTON CONSTRUCTI ON Filed Oct. 19, 1965 f 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 y 2, 1967 R.A. BLACK CARTON CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 19, 1965 55w Im/wwazzwe United States Patent 3,317,111 CARTON CONSTRUCTION Richard A.Black, Sauk Village, 11]., assignor to Bell Fibre Products Corporation,Marion, bid, a corporation of Indiana Filed Oct. 19, 1965, Ser. No.498,066 9 Claims. (Cl. 22915) This application is a continuation-in-partof my copending application Serial No. 469,786 filed July 6, 1965.

The present invention relates to a novel carton structure, and morespecifically, to a novel shipping container.

While cartons incorporating features of the present invention may beutilized for packing and shipping a variety of products, the cartons areespecially suitable for packing fruit items such as apples, pears, andthe like. Such items are subject to injury if packed too tightly withina container or if the containers are subject to crushing when aplurality of them are stacked. On the other hand, fruit and similaritems are also subject to injury if packed too loosely within acontainer so that they are free to roll or shift therein.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide a novelcarton structure having simple, lightweight and economical means fordividing the carton into a plurality of cells and preventing undueshifting of items packed within the carton, and also for padding theinterior of the carton for minimizing any injury to the packed articles.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel cartonstructure having simple, lightweight and rugged cell dividing andpadding means which also serves to minimize any possibility of crushingof the carton for further reducing any possibility of injury to thepacked article.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novelcell dividing and padding member for a carton structure and adapted tobe easily assembled within acarton and economically formed from sheetmaterial.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel cartonstructure of the above described type which may be modified forobtaining different numbers of substantially equally divided cells.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a carton structure incorporatingfeatures of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a combined cell dividing andpadding member incorporating features of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a one-piece sheet material blank from which themember of FIG. 2 may be formed;

FIG. 4 is a large fragmentary sectional view taken along line 4-4 inFIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a modified form of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the modified combined cell dividerand padding member incorporated in the carton structure of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a blank from which the member shown in FIG. 6may be formed; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along line 8-8 inFIG. 6. v

Referring now more specifically to the drawings wherein like parts aredesignated by the same numerals throughout the various figures, a cartonstructure 10 incorporating features of the present invention is shown inFIG. 1 and comprises an outer carton 12 and an inner cell dividing andpadding member 14. In the embodiment shown, two of the members 14 arestacked within the carton. The carton 12 may be of known constructionand is preferably 3,317,111 Patented May 2, 1967 formed from foldablesheet material such as corrugated board. Preferably the carton 12 isformed in one piece from corrugated board or other sheet material whichis scored so as to provide a bottom 16 formed by one or more panels,upstanding pairs of opposed sides 18-20 and 22- 24 integrallyarticulated to edges of the bottom 16 and closure or top means. In theembodiment shown, the closure comprises folda'ble top panels 26 and 28integrally articulated to upper edges of the sides 18 and 20 andadditional top panels 30 and 32 integrally articulated to upper edges ofthe other opposite side or end panels 22 and 24. As will be understood,the top panels may be folded from the opened position shown in FIG. 1 toa closed position over to the bottom of the container, in which closedposition they complement each other for completely covering the top ofthe carton.

Each combined divider and pad member 14 is formed from a one-piece blankof sheet material as shown in FIG. 3. The sheet material of the blank islight in weight and has high strength and rigidity as well as cushioningcharacteristics. Preferably the sheet material of the blank is acorrugated paper or fiberboard.

The member 14 has first and second bottom sections 34 and 36 adapted tofit against and cover the bottom 16 of the carton as indicated in FIGS.1 and 4. When the member 14 is in a fully assembled or folded conditionas shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, the bottom sections 34 and 36are-positioned in a common plane. The lowermost member 14 rests againstthe bottom 16 with longitudinally extending inner side edges 38 and40 ofthe sections 34 and 36 in adjacent substantially abutting relationshipwhile the upper member 14 rests on upper edges of the lower member. Thebottom sections 34 and 36 not only add strength and rigidity to thebottom of the carton, but also provides for cushioning articles packedwithin the carton.

First and second longitudinal divider sections 42 and 44 are integrallyarticulated to the inner side edges 38 and 40 of the bottom sections.The divider sections 42 and 44 are adapted to be folded to asubstantially upright position when the member 14 is assembled in thecarton.

- Upper edges 46 and 48 of the sections 42 and 44 are integrallyarticulated to and joined together by a narrow connecting section 50.Preferably the edges of, or in other words, the integral junctionsbetween the sections 34, 36, 42, 44 and 50 are defined by scored bendlines. The upper edges 42 and 44 of the lower member 14 combine toprovide a platform supporting the inner margins of the upper member 14bottom sections as shownin FIG. 4.

While the inner edges 38 and 40 of the bottom sections are insubstantially abutting relationship as shown in FIG. 4, the width of theconnection section 50 is such that the divider sections 42 and 44 aremaintained in slightly spaced apart relationship for increasingresistance to crushing under downwardly directed pressures and also forincreasing the cushioning or padding eflect between opposite sides ofthe central partition provided by the sections 42 and 44. The section 50also increases the width of the aforementioned platform for increasingthe support of the upper member 14.

The member 14 is provided with outer side panels or sections 52 and 54integrally articulated along scored bend lines 56 and 58 respectively tointermediate portions of outer side edges of the bottom sections 34 and36. The panels or sections 52 and 54 are adapted to be folded to uprightpositions and to fit againstthe inner surfaces of the carton sides 18and 20 when the member 14 is assembled within the carton 12 as shown inFIG. 1.

First transverse divider sections or panels 60 and 62 are articulated toopposite upstanding end edges 64 and 66 respectively of the outer sidepanel 52. Additional transverse divider sections or panels 68 and 70 aresimilarly integrally articulated along scored bend lines 72 and 74 toopposite upstanding end edges of the outer side panel 54. Flaps or shortsections 76 and 78 are connected along scored bend lines 80 and 82 tothe divider sections 60 and 62 and additional flaps 84 and 86 areconnected along scored bend lines 88 and 90 to inner end edges of thedivider sections 68 and 70. The sections 60 and 76 are separated fromthe bottom section 34 by elongated slot 92 having a width greater thanthe thickness of the corrugated board or other sheet material from whichthe member 14 is formed. The slot 92 is in alignment with the scoredbend line 56. An identical but oppositely extending slot 94 is providedfor separating the sections 62 and 78 from the bottom section 34. Stilladditional and substantially identical slots 96 and 98 are formed in theblank material for separating the opposite bottom section 36 from thesections 68-84 and 7086 respectively.

The member 14 may be easily and quickly assembled with the carton 12 byfirst folding the member blank along the various scored bend lines sothat the inner longitudinally extending divider sections 42 and 44 andthe outer upstanding sections and the transverse divider sections orpanels are arranged generally in the upstanding position shown in FIG.2. In addition the flaps or sections 76 and 78, 84 and 86 are folded,preferably inwardly, so as to abut against the divider sections 42 and44 as shown in FIG. 2. Then the unit 14 may be easily inserted withinthe carton 12 and positioned against the bottom 16 thereof.

As shown in FIG. 1, the members 14 divide the interior of the carton 12into a plurality of compartments 100, 102, 104, 106, 108 and 110. Eachof these compartments is adapted to receive a plurality of articles 112to be packed, which articles may, as indicated above, be items of fruitor any other goods. The articles 112 may be sufficiently loosely packedWithin each of the compartments to prevent crushing thereof duringpacking and at the same time the compartments are sufliciently small soas to resist rolling or shifting of the articles in a manner which mightcause injury thereto. Furthermore, the padding provided by the bottomsections and divider sections of the member 14 serves to reduce anypossibility of injury to the articles. It may be observed that thearticles within the intermediate compartments 102 and 108 will bearagainst the flaps 76-78 and 84-86 for pressing the flaps against theinterior divider sections and thereby aiding in holding the transversedivider sections in the desired position.

As previously indicated, the member 14 is preferably formed from alaminated and corrugated paper of fiberboard. This board may be of knownconstruction and, as shown in FIG. 4 comprises fiat opposite side sheets114 and 116 and a corrugated core 118 to which the sheets 114 and 116are adhesively bonded. The previously described panels or sections andscored bend lines are formed on the corrugated board so that thecorrugations of the core 118 extend transversely of the panels orsections. Thus when the member 14 is assembled within the carton, thecorrugations of the core 118 extend vertically in the upstandingsections and provide these sections with high resistance to crushing.Thus a plurality of the cartons with the fruit or other goods packedtherein may be arranged in stacked relationship without danger of thelower cartons being crushed and the fruit therein being injured. In thisconnection it may be observed that not only do the bottom ections 34 and36 provide padding for aiding and protecting the fruit, but the bottomsections also aid in distributing any downward crushing loads imposed onthe upstanding divider sections for resisting localized deflection ofthe bottom of the carton and possible injury thereto or to a carton andgoods which may be stacked therebeneath In FIGS. through 8 a modifiedembodiment of the present invention is shown, which embodiment issimilar to the structure described above as indicated by the applicationof identical reference numerals with the suffix a added to correspondingelements. This embodiment differs in that the divider and padding member14a is constructed for providing five cells of substantially equal sizerather than six cells as does the divider of the previously describedembodiment. More specifically, the construction is such that cells orcompartments a, 182a, 106a, and 108a are provided which are essentiallyidentical to but slightly longer than the corresponding cells of thepreviously described structure and a fifth cell or compartment 120 isformed which is elongated transversely of the carton rather thanlongitudinally as are the other cells or compartments.

In order to form the compartment 120, one end portion of the centralconnecting section 50a is provided with a slot 122 having a width equalto the width of the cell or compartment 120. Slots 124 and 126 having asimilar length are cut in end portions of the junctions 38a and 4011. Asa result transverse divider panels 62a and 70a are formed from portionsof the central longitudinally extending dividers 42a and 44a rather thanfrom the outer side sections of the blank as are the correspondingtransverse dividers of the previously described structure. In thisembodiment the outer upstanding wall sections 52a and 54a extend fromthe junction lines 64a and 72a to the opposite ends of the blank andthus traverse the opposite ends of the cell or compartment 120 foraiding in supporting a superimposed divider and padding member when aplurality of the members are positioned in a carton as shown.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed herein, it is obvious that many structural details may bechanged without departing from the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims.

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. In a carton including a rectangular bottom, pairs of oppositeupstanding sides and top means, a one-piece divider and a cushion membercomprising first and second coplanar bottom sections disposed on saidcarton bottom and having adjacently disposed inner side edges andparallel outer side edges, first and second longitudinal dividersections respectively integrally articulated to said inner edges of saidfirst and second sections, said divider sections extending upwardly fromsaid inner edges in ad jacent relationship, a connecting sectionintegrally joining upper edges of said divider sections, first andsecond outer upstanding sections respectively integrally articulated tosaid outer side edges of said bottom sections, first spaced apartupstanding opposed transverse divider sections r spectively integrallyarticulated to one upstanding end edge of and extending between saidfirst outer side section and said first longitudinal divider section,second spaced apart upstanding opposed transverse divider sectionsrespectively integrally articulated to one upstanding end edge of andextending between said second outer section and said second dividersection, and flaps integrally articulated to inner upstanding edges ofcertain of said transverse divider sections and extending along andabutting said first and second longitudinal divider sections.

2. A carton as defined in claim 1, wherein said first and second outerupstanding sections are respectively integrally articulated tointermediate portions of said outer side edges of said bottom sectionswith remaining opposite end portions of said outer edges being free,said first opposite transverse divider sections respectively beingintegrally articulated to opposite upstanding end edges of said firstouter upstanding sections and extending inwardly substantially to saidfirst divider section, said second opposed transverse divider sectionsrespectively being integrally articulated to opposite upstanding endedge of said second outer upstanding section and extending inwardlysubstantially to said second divider section, and said flaps beingintegrally articulated to inner upstanding end edges of all of saidtransverse divider sections.

3. A divider and cushion member as defined in claim 1, wherein certainof said transverse divider sections are articulated to said outerupstanding sections, and other of said transverse divider sections arearticulated to said longitudinal divider sections.

4. A carton structure, as defined in claim 1, wherein said one-piecesheet material divider and cushion member is formed from laminatedcorrugated board including opposite side sheets and a corrugated core,said corrugated core comprising corrugations extending substantiallyvertically in said upstanding sections.

5. A one-piece divider and cushion member formed from a laminated boardhaving opposite side sheets and a core having corrugations extending ina predetermined direction, said member comprising first and secondsubstantially coplanar bottom sections having adjacently disposed innerside edges extending transversely of said corrugations and substantiallyparallel outer side edges, first and second divider sectionsrespectively integrally articulated to said inner edges of said firstand second bottom sections and extending upwardly therefrom, thecorrugations of the board in said divider sections extending in upwardlydirections, a connecting section integrally joining upper edges of saiddivider sections, first and second outer upstanding sectionsrespectively integrally articulated to portions of said outer side edgesof said bottom sections, and transverse divider sections respectivelyintegrally articulated to one upstanding end edge of and extendingbetween said outer upstanding sections and said first and second dividersections.

6. A divider and cushion member as defined in claim 5, wherein saidconnecting section has a width greater than a thickness of said boardfor spacing the upper edges of said first and second divider sections,lower edges of said first and second divider sections being insubstantially abutting relationhip and said first and second dividersections diverging with respect to each other from their lower edgestoward their upper edges.

7. A divider and cushion member as defined in claim 6, which includesflaps integrally articulated to upstanding inner end edges of certain ofsaid transverse divider sections, said flaps abutting said first andsecond divider sections. 7

8. A carton including a rectangular bottom, pairs of opposite upstandingsides having a predetermined height and top means, first and secondsuperimposed divider and cushion members disposed within said carton,each of said divider and cushion members comprising first and secondcoplanar bottom sections having adjacently disposed inner side edges andparallel outer side edges, each of said members including first andsecond longitudinal divider sections respectively integrally articulatedto said inner edges of said first and second bottom sections andextending upwardly therefrom in adjacent relationship, each of saidmembers including means integrally joined upper edges of said dividersections, each of said members including first and second outerupstanding sections respectively integrally articulated to outer sideedges of said bottom sections, each of said members including first0pposed transverse divider sections respectively articulated to one endedge of and extending between said first outer side sections and saidtwo longitudinal divider sections and second opposed transverse dividersections respectively articulated to one end edge of and extendingbetween said second outer sections, and said second longitudinal dividersection, said bottom sections of said first member being disposed onsaid carton bottom and said bottom sections of said second member beingdisposed on upper edges of the divider sections of said first member,the upper edges of said first and second divider sections of the firstmember providing platform means supporting the inner side edges of thebottom sections of said second member.

9. A carton structure, as defined in claim 8, wherein said meansconnecting said upper edges of the first and second divider sections ofsaid first member comprises a connecting section having a substantialwidth and combining with said edges in providing said platform forsupporting the upper member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1920 Shapiro229-42 5/1932 Boeye 229 15

5. A ONE-PIECE DIVIDER AND CUSHION MEMBER FORMED FROM A LAMINATED BOARDHAVING OPPOSITE SIDE SHEETS AND A CORE HAVING CORRUGATIONS EXTENDING INA PREDETERMINED DIRECTION, SAID MEMBER COMPRISING FIRST AND SECONDSUBSTANTIALLY COPLANAR BOTTOM SECTIONS HAVING ADJACENTLY DISPOSED INNERSIDE EDGES EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF SAID CORRUGATIONS AND SUBSTANTIALLYPARALLEL OUTER SIDE EDGES, FIRST AND SECOND DIVIDER SECTIONSRESPECTIVELY INTEGRALLY ARTICULATED TO SAID INNER EDGES OF SAID FIRSTAND SECOND BOTTOM SECTIONS AND EXTENDING UPWARDLY THEREFROM, THECORRUGATIONS OF THE BOARD IN SAID DIVIDER SECTIONS EXTENDING IN UPWARDLYDIRECTIONS, A CONNECTING SECTION INTEGRALLY JOINING UPPER EDGES OF SAIDDIVIDER SECTIONS, FIRST AND SECOND OUTER UPSTANDING SECTIONSRESPECTIVELY INTEGRALLY ARTICULATED TO PORTIONS OF SAID OUTER SIDE EDGESOF SAID BOTTOM SECTIONS, AND TRANSVERSE DIVIDER SECTIONS RESPECTIVELY INTEGRALLY ARTICULATED TO ONE UPSTANDING END EDGE OF AND EXTENDING BETWEENSAID OUTER UPSTANDING SECTIONS AND SAID FIRST AND SECOND DIVIDERSECTIONS.